Chase Goldman

Thanks, Steve. Sorry it didn't work out, but that in itself is important info. I think you are dead on regarding the amperage limit. I have a number of power banks of varying capacities and amperage limits. Will test the gamut once I get my Equinox to see what does and doesn't work to attempt to bound minimum power bank specs. I see that the Minelabs spec say the charging cable is 1.5A. Does it come with a wall wart or do you have to supply your own? Regarding the AA bank, you might be able to at least recharge the WM08 or APT X headphones with it. I'd give you a "Gold Cup" but I hit my limit on "reactions" today. That's what happens when its raining outside. Lol.

Geez how many test units are out there? Get's a little annoying seeing all these rando folks running around with their machines without a peep from Minelab lately.

Regarding the gold scoop, I noticed that right off the bat and rolled my eyes, but then he immediately said that they are not beach hunters. Taking the opportunity to beach hunt on their tropical holiday from Scotland, I presume, so I cut them some slack at that point and concluded that this was not going to be anything close to a beach hunter's Equinox tutorial. I've been to Kauai on several occasions. There is no place there like Waikiki beach crowded and bustling. That is part of that Island's allure, so you do what you can. Frankly, I am surprised they found as much as they did. I think they were gaging the beach purely by the amount of surface trash they could see (a heckuva lot more than Brandon found). It looked trashier than most Kauai beaches but that could have been flotsam washed up by the tide rather than an indication of a well traveled beach. Anyway, yeah they were not avid, experienced beach hunters in a non-ideal spot and probably knew nothing of cuts, towel lines, coin lines, or any other nuances to beach hunting that experienced beach hunters know. Like I said previously, the from scratch assembly segment was worth the price of admission for me.

Steve - I know you already responded to Alexander's post but his inquiry got me thinking (I know, how is that possible with no brain) about some related questions (My apologies but I do not own a Minelab machine with Visual Target ID): 1. Regarding your target ID reference above, I assume that was in Park or Field mode 1. As long as you are operating in Multi IQ regardless of mode, will the TIDs be the same for the same target? 2. When operating in single frequency mode, do the non-ferrous target ID's indeed increase with increasing frequency, or does Minelab normalize target ID to a specific frequency (say 15 khz). 3. Finally, if 2 is normalized, is there an expectation that the target IDs in Multi IQ will be the same as in individual frequency mode. The answers to the questions might obviate the need or utility of Alexander's suggestion. On the other hand, Alexander can accomplish what he wants by manually interrogating the target with different individual frequencies, if normalization is not used. This was a technique I used frequently with the Deus early on to ID bottlecaps but have since switched to IDing them solely by tonal signature. It takes some many swing hours on the machine to recognize the tonal subtleties of bottlecaps on the Deus. Solely using visual target ID and you will be digging plenty. Lol.

It is a great deal. For me the price difference is close enough to sway me to "have it all" with the 800 especially considering the cost of the wireless hardware that is included with the 800.

Thanks, Bryan. I dry beach hunt and coin shoot in parks and fields. Mainly only come across old coins when I relic hunt (pretty much digging everything with a repatable TID pulse there). So when it comes to coin shooting in parks/fields my beach habits (rings) tend to come into play and unfortunately tabs are an annoying fact of life in both venues (not so much relic hunting). I do trust myself better to ID questionable targets via tone and do not trust myself to make a dig/no dig decision solely based on visual TID (i.e., if something read 15 instead of 13 with no audio differentiation, I would dig it). I understand the point your are making regarding the possible lower "resolution" of visual TID on the Equinox due to the "compressed" dynamic range affecting your ability to cherry pick amongst the tabs in the nickel "range". That is a skill as much as it is a detector feature and I definitely do not have that skill (nor trust myself to execute it) so my hat is off to you. Yes, and reliable Target ID does go out the window with increasing target depth. I am hoping the Equinox target ID reliability at depth is greater than my current detector, especially in highly mineralized soils. That is why I am excited about it for relic hunting.

When it comes to tabs (assume you are referring to pull tabs)there is enough variability that I rarely rest on a TID number in that range and will dig those numbers regardless, hoping for gold, happy if its a nickel, and shrugging my shoulders if its a tab. Unless I get a really squirely audio tone (indicating a possible bent or damaged tab) I rarely pass up a TID in the nickel range.

Good catch, I wondered about that too but forgot to ask. Not really sure what it would actually accomplish, but I also don't know that it would hurt either. Just don't know if you "should" do it.

BTW - It took "Sharon" almost exactly 2 minutes to assemble the Equinox from scratch including the coil and armrest. Nice.

Yep. It doesn't make sense. I don't know why Minelab is willing to miss out on this golden opportunity from a business standpoint (not smart). But i am also not losing sleep over it nor has it influenced my decision on purchasing the Equinox. I know they are going to release the coils some day, I know the approximate range of prices they will likely charge for them based on past practice, so really it is not a factor in "to nox or not to nox", for me. I don't think I have ever made a decision on whether or not to buy a detector based on the availability/price of an accessory coil unless the stock coil was just pure junk. No denying though the lack of such information is frustrating and makes you have bad thoughts like Minelab IS actually making a marketing decision based on Equinox committed sales to determine whether to gouge on accessories, especially on things like the Waterproof cans which are necessary to do what Minelab marketing SAYS you can do in the water with this detector. Multiple coil/detector discount packages would also be a nice offering.

I know, but it's a business. That's why I encourage folks to shop around in these cases and find the arrangement they are most comfortable with (prepaid or not). Dealers have to protect themselves (I know, a whole other thread). It comes down to trust and there are certainly plenty of impatient and unethical buyers around that force dealers to do what they do. You may not realize or remember this because you were fortunate enough to be a product tester for the Impact, but the Impact roll out was basically exactly the same as this just a lot fewer were folks were complaining because there were fewer folks who preordered. But those folks were just as vociferous (I was one of them and DID cancel my prepaid preorder - vowed never to do that again (I haven't) and ended up not getting the Impact). I frankly couldn't care less for the whining some folks are doing about this detector roll out. There are far more serious hardships in life, and that was what I was trying to poke fun at. Not talking about all of us that are just making snide comments and voicing minor frustration about being in the same boat. But those who are generally getting upset and disturbed about this really need to re-think their life priorities, seriously. I have NO serious issues with how Minelab or the dealers are handling this rollout compared to the several I have experienced in the last few years. (Well except for the whole Equinox accessories thing - lol).

Take a breath and then please carefully read my post again. I didn't say YOU were upset, I said I thought you believed OTHERS were really upset, which was the point of your original post, right? There is A LOT of sarcasm being thrown around here, most of the people here are joking. Yours and Nox's first post seemed really serious. Just trying to inject some humor in all the perceived and real tension. In other words, I am finding humor in the fact that you and 'Nox are very concerned that people are getting upset with Minelab for having to wait for their Equinox detectors. To me the notion is kind of absurd, especially if you think about it from a selfish, individualist, metal detectorist point of view. As a detectorist that wants the goodies, why encourage people to get the most game changing VLF detector introduced in the last five years unless you are a dealer. (Of course we really want others to succeed in our hobby, but I am being tongue in cheek again, because deep down most of us have that selfish thought, but don't like to admit it to ourselves). Now that you made me explain it, its not funny anymore. Emoticons and text speak like "lol", are mean we're not serious. Asking everyone to lighten up and relax about this whole Equinox wait thing. I apologize that the subtleties of sarcasm get lost on forum posts without visual, body language cues. Hence these dumb smiley faces, lol's, and /s's.

I am starting to get worried that you and 'NOXaholic' actually think people are really that upset with Minelab. If so, I wholeheartedly refer those folks my second to last "remedy" bullet, (i.e., move on). Personally, the fewer Equinox owners out there I have to contend with the better. I know Gerry and the rest of the dealers do not agree with this sentiment, but then again, I am just a selfish, grumpy dotard. LOL. (In all honesty, I do not believe the Dealers nor Minelab have a thing to worry about, Cha Ching!)

The MultiIQ information posted by Steve above is direct and the latest information from the Minelab (US) site - suggest you click on the link in his post which is a compendium of the various Minelab (US) blog posts that attempt to explain MultiIQ. There are links also to the blog posts on the Minelab site as well as the quick start guide which has also been recently updated . The information you received in red allegedly from Minelab US was provided by a source who is not well informed because it contains both incorrect and outdated inforation. First of all, MultiIQ utilizes all 5 base frequencies (5,10, 15, 20, 40 khz) in both the 600 and 800 (as stated in Steve's post which is info direct from Minelab). Also, Minelab just recently updated both Gold Modes to use Multifrequency - MultiIQ as their default modes. As far as MultiIQ is concerned, how the five (5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz) base frequencies are manipulated in terms of intensity/amplitude and time duration (time slices) is determined by which search mode you are in. Of those modes, Park 1/2, Field 1/2, and Beach 1/2 appear to be the same between the two detectors. As FlyFish was saying when you run those 5 frequencies simultaneously at varying amplitudes and time durations, you generate a number of harmonics due to the inter-frequency interferences that occur and the MultiIQ secret sauce involves how that complex stew of harmonics and base frequencies is analyzed for target generated field distortions for Target ID. The 600 has limitations in that there is no Gold mode, the number of individual frequency modes 3Fx3 for the 600 is 3 (5, 10, 15 khz) [15/5 = 3, hence 3FX3] vs. 5FX8 for the 800 is 5 (5, 10, 15, 20, 40 khz) [40/5 = 8, hence 5FX8], the number and range of adjustable recovery speed settings is narrower/fewer (3 vs. 8 steps), the number and range of iron bias settings is narrower/fewer (purpose not yet fully explained by Minelab, but 3 vs. 9 steps), and you cannot adjust the threshold tone, non-ferrous tone breaks, non-ferrous tone pitch, non-ferrous tone volume on the 600 like you can on the 800. The 600 also lacks manual noise reduction mode (only auto) and the 600 is lacking the instant personal profile save button on the faceplate which saves the current machine settings for instant recall. HTH

I do not blame Jake one bit! Fortunately, unlike me, I know all will be well with Jake if you offer him a snacky.

You sure do like your ellipses Anyway, I agree a few more coil choices (including a elliptical) would have been nice. I really do like what Nokta does with their coil choices. Similar to First Texas, they include packages with more than one coil in the box...nice. Hopefully, there will eventually be a number of suitable 3rd party offerings from the usual suspects.

The MX sport is "Not Worthy" lol.

Do you suffer from any of the following symptoms: Depression Anxiety Lack of Self Esteem Paranoia Bloating and Gas Nausea Chills Night Terrors A Broken Heart Short Temper and Lashing Out even to friends and loved ones Constantly Checking your Gmail account for new "Your Item Has Shipped" notifications Then you might be suffering from "Equinox Deprivation Disorder" or EDD for short. This illness has only one cure, time. If you are having trouble coping with the uncertainty of this cure there is help. While the following are not "cures" they may help lesson some of the symptoms: Watch the news. Happenings around the world may help you put your illness into the proper perspective Smash your smart phone and computer so you will not be tempted to check "status" information so often Get some sunshine. Grab your least capable metal detector and use only that for an entire day of metal detecting, extra points if you only use the speaker instead of headphones Have a beer for breakfast Try the Tide Pod challenge Adopt a puppy with a bladder infection Get a second flu shot Find out your childrens' real names if you have them Go to the Nokta forum and convince yourself you really wanted the Kruzer after all Free yourself and get off your multiple pre-order lists for the Equinox and embrace the fact that you now have a life And, yes, by all means "Don't Give Up" from your horrendous plight Personally, I recommend the second to last bullet so that I can move up on my various preorder lists. This message has been brought to you as a public service by the AT Max Fanboi Association and EDD defamation league Stay tuned for our follow up public service message for those suffering from LAAPID - Lack of Accessory Availability and Price Information Disorder. Carry on....

Steve always has the better production values with the Minelab images at the ready. Meanwhile, I'm typing responses on a manual typewriter the size of a phone keyboard, running the image off a mimeograph machine and snail mailing it to a friend who can fax that to someone who has a handheld scanner and can upload it to the site via their Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Pentium Desktop with a 14K modem.

Steve - did you get your AA power bank gizmo and have a chance to test it yet?

I guess software since all 5 frequencies are transmitted when operating in Mult IQ, that must mean the 600 is capable of transmitting and receiving signals from the two upper frequencies but is just interlocked via the user interface and software from using 20 and 40 kHz in single frequency mode which is the Minelab marketing jargon you were referring to.

Awesome if for nothing else showing us what it takes to assemble a broken down detector.

Let me know how you like them. Even if you muddy them up, they tend to shed the dirt and last awhile. Sometimes they get a little sweaty when it is hot out but they do breath a little.

I am pretty sure Minelab will have their accessories out b4 Gray Ghost, and to be frank, the Gray Ghost waterproof accessories are typically just as expensive as the OEM equivalents. Don't get me wrong, I have and enjoy my Gray Ghost headphones, just saying that the wait will be longer, most likely and their will be no price advantage. Regarding the Equinox roll out - welcome to detector roll outs. Max was no better, Impact no better, even the Deus HF coil and pinpointer release was about as much fun as this. Frankly, they have not missed a date yet. Never committed to a time frame until December and last I checked we are still in January, so they still have about 4 days to meet their "shipping" promise which only meant it would be on its way to the dealers by then. The accessory thing is annoying, though. Does this make me less anxious to get my hands on one? No. But certainly not overly disappointed overall with how Minelab is doing this.

Dew - I hear ya. When I say it was a ML business decision, I say so through gritted teeth. No technical reason that I can see, unless the CTX waterproof jack was going to make the control box difficult to qualify as watertight, to not allow compatibility with the CTX audio accessories (coils, now that's a different animal). And even though we are all probably going to wait until the water warms up, it would be nice to be able to have the accessories available from the get go. My main point was that you really only have two choices, make the old CTX audio accessories compatible or have the Equinox audio accessories available from the get-go. Waterproof adapters just require too many compromises vs. integral watertight plugs and are subject to premature failure or high cost.